The library board on Monday voted 6-0 to authorize Engberg Anderson Design Partnership Inc. of Milwaukee to begin planning the $18 million expansion. No one from the general public commented on the proposal.

About 80 percent of current circulation at the Main Library is in the Sights & Sounds movies/music department and the children's department, both on the third floor. Families with children in tow, often in baby strollers, must take them upstairs to use those areas, library director Donald Napoli said.

The nonfiction collection (now on the main floor), and newspapers and back issues of periodicals (now on the second floor) will move upstairs to the third floor. The expanded library also will have a fireplace, a small open-air garden courtyard and an attached parking garage for 220 vehicles.

There will be 50 computers and a quiet area on the third floor, which will provide a draw to the upper floors, Napoli said. All departments will get more space, but those growing the most will be local history/genealogy, a teen area and the children's department.

The Main Library will expand by about 35,566 square feet, and cover an area roughly twice its current size. Library administrators are negotiating to purchase the vacant Avon Theater, an adjacent parking lot and perhaps additional nearby property.

The board also voted 6-0 to approve a building proposal for the German Township Branch, a new library planned along Cleveland Road east of Portage Road. The $5 million, 15,000-square-foot branch will be designed to resemble an English cottage.

The new branch will feature self-service checkout and possibly a conveyor belt to sort materials. "Although it's going to be very natural, with a lot of stone and wood, it's also going to be very high tech," Napoli said.

The board authorized Arkos Design & Architecture Inc. of Niles to begin planning the work for the new branch.

The board adopted a systemwide policy for individuals borrowing library laptop computers. An individual must be at least 14 years old, present two forms of ID (including a county library card) and use the computer within the library. Laptops can be borrowed for two hours, with a $1 per hour late fee.